#so somehow it makes this scene a bit less than it whatever is

[duahauuoplanh]

The loudest whisper you've ever heard

[vendetta-if]

I’m a sucker for (consensual!!!) fake-out-make-out scenarios—especially pre-relationship with a lot of unanswered emotions, sighs, pining (angst?) fjwkjfkww.

Ofc MC & each RO are more than capable of handling a situation, but I’d like to imagine that in some cases of laying low, you gotta do what u gotta do 😳

I was wondering if you already had this ask answered? 🫣 Otherwise, how would each RO react to MC initiating this trope?

I imagine at this stage of crushing/yearning, everyone would hold back in fear but ultimately give in (indulge) a little “for the sake of it looking real”. Who would try to play it cool afterwards? Who would fold after finally being able to kiss MC?

*can be as long or spicy as you want! I can’t stop playing the demo. you have a way with words ❤️

Ah, one of the downside of giving MC and some of the ROs such powerful abilities is that I won’t be able to include a fake-out-make-out scene without it feeling forced 😔✊ I suppose the closest one is the kabedon scene with Ash in Chapter 3 🤭

Ash

You don’t understand why MC is dragging you away; you’re pretty sure you could take on the group of goons by yourself. But whatever MC plans, you believe in them fully, as always.

Shouldering past the people milling around, MC takes you into a pretty secluded nook and before you can ask what’s the plan, MC pulls you in close and… kiss you.

You immediately freeze and you fear that if you move, whatever spell that the two of you are in right now would break and this little piece of heaven you’ve got going right now will be taken away from you.

You close your eyes and let MC takes the lead, sighing softly into the deepening kiss. You’ve dreamt of this countless of times but somehow, MC manages to make this real one feels a hundred times better than the ones in your dreams.

After what feels like an eternity, MC pulls away and you’re yanked back to earth. You expect regret or disgust on their face, but they’re looking at you with half-lidded eyes that just sends heat down to your groin.

Are you probably in a dream right now? And you’ll about to wake up in your bed soon? You decide to pinch your arm and… you’re still here. This really just happened.

MC says something about pursuers, but it’s a bit drowned by the sound of your thundering heartbeat reverberating in your ears. You’re still dumbfounded and just nods as you let MC drags you somewhere else.

Your mind is still reeling and you’ve got the feeling that you’ll be spending the next month or so replaying the scene over and over again in your head as you try to process the fact that you just had your first kiss with MC.

Rin

Getting pursued by a bunch of goons is not something you’ve got planned for today, but it is an expected outcome of agreeing to help MC. It doesn’t take a genius to conclude that taking a fight where you’re outnumbered is not a good idea, so you just happily let MC drags you into a more crowded area, possibly to make it easier for the two of you to lose your tails.

MC pulls you into a more secluded nook and in that instant, you know what they are planning to do. So, it doesn’t come as a surprise to you when MC leans down and press their lips against yours.

You’ve seen scenes like this in movies and books, but never have you thought that this would happen to you in real life, much less that this is how your first kiss is going to be. But you’re not really complaining though, especially when it’s with MC, the only person you’re interested in for quite some time now.

Bringing your arms up, you encircle them around MC’s neck, pulling them even closer as you decide to take control and deepen the kiss. After all, the only thing you can do is to make the most of your first kiss now, right?

MC inhales sharply in surprise but soon melts into the kiss and lets you take the rein as they grab your waist. Ah, this does taste as sweet as you’ve pictured in your head.

After minutes that felt like forever, you break the kiss first, stepping back and getting out of MC’s hold as you straighten your clothes. You almost let out a laugh when you see MC still standing frozen in place with wide eyes and flushed cheeks.

“Alright, I think we’ve lost them,” you say, taking hold of their hand. “Let’s get out of here, yes?”

MC finally shakes out of their daze, although not completely it seems. “Uh, yeah… Let’s…” they answer breathlessly as they let you drag them away.

“Next time, if you want to kiss me, just ask,” you tease with a smirk. “No need to wait for us getting chased.”

Santana

It was supposed to be a simple stakeout mission with MC, but a little misstep leads you to where you are now with the two of you running away from a group of goons. You can hear the sounds of their thunderous footsteps behind you, but you’re not going to risk turning around to see how far behind they are.

Your heart lightens as you and MC gets into a more crowded area. MC takes your hand in theirs and you happily let them lead you to the side, into a secluded nook. You’re not sure what MC’s plan is since this position is not really well-hidden, but you’ll take the chance to catch your breath a bit.

But before you can properly do it, MC suddenly leans in and press their lips against yours, catching you by surprise. Despite your budding feelings for MC, you still feel hesitation and decide to just let MC take the lead.

Deep down, you know MC is probably doing this only to blend in and lose your pursuers, but one can dream. Closing your eyes, you let yourself get lost in the feeling. It feels like there’s only you and MC as your surrounding melts away.

MC deepen the kiss and your soft gasp gets devoured. You feel their arms on your back and you reciprocate the gesture by circling your own around their hips, bringing them closer.

You’re not even sure how much time has passed until MC finally pulls away first, breaking the kiss. For a moment, the two of you can only stare at each other with wide eyes and flushed cheeks, breaths mingling with each other. Your heart is still racing hard in your chest—no longer from the adrenaline of getting pursued, but from the high of the kiss.

There’s so many things you want to say, but instead, the only thing that comes out of your mouth is, “Are they gone?”

Why? Because you’re stupid and a coward.

MC blinks and seems to snap out of the daze as they glance behind you. “Yeah, I think we’re in the clear,” they say as they step back, retracting their hands and getting out of your hold.

You feel your heart fall a bit at the lost of the contact. But then, MC takes your hand in theirs. “Let’s get out of here,” they whisper and you nod, once again letting them take you somewhere else.

Skylar

Honestly, you could have probably taken on the group of goons singlehandedly, especially with MC’s help. But it seems MC is not really looking for a confrontation right now because they decide to run away instead, dragging you with them to a more crowded area.

Either way, you don’t really mind, especially once they take you to a pretty secluded nook that’s too small to fit the two of you together. There are only mere couple of inches separating the two of you and how you want to just close the gap altogether.

And it seems like your prayer has been answered because MC is the one who leans forward and suddenly presses their lips to yours. Not letting the good fortune go to waste, you instinctively wrap your arms around their back.

You bring them even closer until your chest and theirs are flush against each other as you deepen the kiss. MC inhales in surprise before slowly melting in your arms.

You’ve kissed quite a number of people before, but somehow, this first one with MC just has something… special in it that you can’t really describe. It gives you the same feeling whenever you fly, a feeling of walking on fluffy clouds.

You swear, if those goons come and interrupt you out of this state of bliss… But thankfully, they don’t and after a while, MC breaks away breathlessly, cheeks adorably flushed.

You grin lopsidedly, still cradling them in your embrace. “Remind me, what were we doing again before this?”

MC looks at you flabbergasted. “W—We were getting chased—”

“Oh, yeah,” you sigh exaggeratedly. “How about we get out of here, hm?”

“Yeah, that’s what I’ve been waiting for,” they mumble.

They try to get out of your embrace but you tighten your hold instead and before they can complain, you take off with them in your arms.

[try-set-me-on-fire]

I have been crying on and off about that Tommy MCD fic idea since you posted about it. The way you write emotional devastation is soooo good. It always punches me in the gut.

Thank you thank you here’s some more of it… using this as my fuck it Friday post, thanks for the tag @eddiebabygirldiaz, tagging @colonoscopys @homerforsure @chronicowboy @shitouttabuck @bigfootsmom @daffi-990 @butchdiaz @ anyone else who has stuff they want to share!

Going to put a lot of this under a cut because one its long two it’s a major character death au and there’s a bit about past contemplation of suicide. But it’s kind of happy generally I swear! This is Buck and Eddie getting together sort of!

For more of this au I’ve been tagging it ‘the seconds ticking killed us all a million years before the fall’ (lyrics from standing outside a broken phone booth with money in my hand)

I’ve hated and thought this scene was pretty good in turns over the last few hours so whatever here you go!

Eddie thinks the creaking on the front porch might be a raccoon, at first. It’s light, comes and goes for several minutes. He should probably go shoo it away, but it’s two am and he’s sore all over and can’t be damned. He’s settling further into the couch and his various ice packs when the raccoon knocks. Hesitant, hesitant, loud, loud, louder. Eddie stands up with only a slight groan, ice packs flopping all over the place, and goes to the door.

Buck stands on the other side of it.

If Eddie hadn’t been so exhausted yet in too much pain to fall asleep, he thinks he might have expected this. If he was a little more exhausted, a little more hurt, he might have admitted to hoping for it. As it is, all he can do for a moment is blink at the apparition before him. Buck is pale, wild eyed, looking somehow thinner than when they’d last seen each other not that many hours ago. His hands come up to hover near Eddie’s shoulders as Eddie is also reaching out, so he ends up with his fingers colliding into an awkward fist against Buck’s elbow.

“Eddie.” He sounds wrecked. “I’m- I’m sorry, I-”

“It’s alright,” Eddie says, soft, shaking his head. “I’m okay, Buck. I’m still okay. Like I promised.”

Buck makes a terrible little noise and steps backward, and again, off the porch. Eddie follows, hands out, trying to make sure he won’t trip. “Eddie,” he says again, “Eddie.”

“It’s okay,” Eddie says, keeping his voice low, calming, less likely to wake any neighbors. “Buck, it’s okay. Do you want to come inside?”

Buck looks up behind Eddie, where the door is wide open. Light spills through, shining in his eyes, in the unshed tears there. “I don’t want to… waste… any time I have.”

“What-”

Buck kisses him. The sound Eddie makes is more frightened than anything, even as his arms come up around Buck, to hold him close, to hold him up. It’s not- it’s wet, and Buck’s fingers almost hurt where they’re dug into the sides of Eddie’s head. Their faces are pressed too hard together, noses crushed into cheeks. Their lips are barely even aligned. Buck gasps a hitching breath into his mouth and Eddie pulls back. Not away, just enough to speak.

“Come inside,” he pleads. “Buck, come inside, just- please, come inside.”

Buck doesn’t let go of him, doesn’t give him an inch, but lets Eddie pull him into the house. Eddie’s not sure how he manages not to trip going blind and backwards, but they make it through the door, down the hall, to the living room. Eddie’s not even sure if he’d count what’s happening as kissing, but Buck’s mouth presses into his over and over as they go.

“It’s okay,” Eddie says, between the moments of contact. “It’s okay,” he says as he kicks a shoe or something out of their path, “It’s okay,” as sits back down on the couch. Buck climbs on top of him immediately, and Eddie hopes the combined weight of them doesn’t pop the ice pack that ended up crushed under his thigh. It is kissing, now, the desperate kind of making out Eddie remembers with Shannon in the day or two on either side of his deployments. Eddie slides his hands to rest firm against Buck’s lower back to anchor him — or maybe both of them — and follows Buck’s lead as their lips slide together, as Buck gets his mouth open and chases his tongue, as they gasp raggedly for air without ever breaking apart. He’s not sure, but he thinks Buck is crying. Eddie isn’t, barely. Buck needs someone solid right now, someone who will let him take what he needs and be okay if this is it, if this is the only time they have this. Because Eddie’s not fooling himself. He laid there at the bottom of that pit under all that rubble and heard Buck’s scream, first wordless, and then Tommy, and then Eddie, Eddie, Eddie. He knows that this might all be too much, too soon, too mixed up, and if Buck pulls away from this kiss and never comes in for another one that’s okay. He wishes, maybe, that it could have happened different. He wishes Buck had been smiling, and it had been gentler, on a bright afternoon, on a good day. But it’s okay.

It goes until Buck’s elbow catches a bruise and Eddie can’t stop a small, pained sound from getting out. Buck jerks back like he touched a hot stove, eyes open to near circles as he looks Eddie all over. Eddie knows it's sort of a rough picture, all purple and blue and a fresh line of stitches cutting a half moon around his temple from forehead to just under his mole. Buck’s fingers come up to trace it, not quite touching the skin. Just the shape, in the air.

“S-sorry,” he whispers. “I’m so- I’m so sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Eddie says again. He wipes a thumb under Buck’s eye, though it doesn’t do much to clear away the still falling tears. Buck leans into the touch, though, and then in further, head cradling against Eddie’s shoulder as he slides half off him onto the couch. Eddie slides his fingers into Buck’s hair, wraps his other arm around him as Buck coughs muffled little sobs into his t-shirt.

“S-sorry.”

“You don’t have to apologize, Buck.” His hair feels a little limp, greasy. Eddie wonders if he went home at all, took a shower, ate. His own fridge is kind of dire — he was planning on going to the grocery store after work until a building collapsed on him — but he could probably scrounge up something. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry I scared you.”

Buck scoffs a single, wet laugh. “No,” he says, voice thin, scrubbing at his face as he sits more upright. “It’s not- you didn’t do it on purpose. That’s the job, right?”

The job that killed your husband. Why would you want to do this a second time? I care for you so much and I’m so sorry you reciprocate. “Yeah. Still.”

Buck inhales and exhales, shaky, and nods in thanks. He makes a face and pulls another ice pack out from under him. It’s all floppy now, probably too warm to be effective. “God. Let me…” He stands, gathering up all the ice packs he can see and heading towards the kitchen.

“You don’t have to-”

“I’ll be just a minute.”

Eddie sighs, leaning back into the couch and listening to the freezer door open and its contents get shuffled around. The soft hiss of it shutting, Buck’s footsteps, Buck in the doorway sheepishly holding an armful of frozen vegetables. Eddie arranges peas and carrots over the worst sore spots as Buck sits back down beside him.

“Did you take anything?”

“Yeah, just before you got here.” Extra strength ibuprofen, so he won’t be good to take anything else until morning. Wasn’t going to be a problem when he thought he was just going to sleep, though he wishes he’d taken a smaller dose now so he could spread them out, time it better to however long they’ll be talking here.

“Good.” Buck sighs, looking at him with furrowed brows. “Sorry I… I didn’t mean to be so dramatic, coming here.”

Eddie laughs, startled and genuine. “It’s, uh, been a dramatic day.”

Buck hums agreement, a tired and beautiful smile pulling at his lips. He flops his head sideways onto the couch. “I kind of had a… an idea.”

“Yeah?”

“Mhmm. Of what I was going to say. Because…” he searches Eddie's face. “I'm not- I'm not making it up, right? There's something here? You feel it too?”

Eddie can barely breathe. “Yeah, I- it's not just you. But- Buck, I understand why you wouldn't want to do this, why you wouldn't want to take the risk. I- I have feelings for you,” it feels like a childish way to say it even as the words leave his mouth, “But I… you're my friend. I think you're my best friend. And I am truly fine with that. You don’t have to… it’s okay.”

That smile. “That’s the thing. That’s what I’ve been thinking about. N-not just today. Though, I guess- you scaring the shit out of me made it more- more real.” He chews at his lip for a moment. “I… spend a lot of time wishing… that I had more of it, with Tommy. That we had longer together. Or at least that I- that I’d made sure every minute counted, you know? B-but I think maybe I did? I loved him so much and we- it was good, what we had. Just because it ended, that doesn’t mean the rest wasn’t worth it. I’d love him again, knowing what was coming. And, so…” he takes a deep breath. “So I’ve been thinking that… even if I… even if something bad could happen- I don’t want that to stop me from having something good, now.”

“Buck-”

“Hold on,” Buck says, a hand up, a wry smile. “I have a part two.”

“Okay.” Eddie’s turned towards him without really noticing, both of them sitting one leg folded up on the couch so their knees touch.

“I’m not… going to stop loving Tommy. And I’m, uh- kind of a fucking mess, as I just demonstrated. I don’t- know that I’m- going to be any less messy any time soon.” There’s a furrow in his brows that Eddie wants to smooth out. “I don’t know that starting something would be fair to you.”

“I-”

“You’re a very kind man, Eddie.” Buck says it very softly, and one of his hands comes to rest so gently on Eddie’s leg. “I think you’d let me fall apart here forever, but I want- I want you to really think if it’s worth it-”

“Buck.” Eddie’s voice is sharp enough that Buck blinks several times, quick. “Don’t- you’re worth it. Your pain isn’t- it’s not some kind of chore to me. I haven’t been just- hanging around, waiting until you’re a fun guy. I like you, Buck, right now, not- not some other perfectly okay version of you.”

Buck’s fingers twitch against Eddie’s thigh. “You’re a very kind man,” he repeats.

“I don’t even know if that’s true,” Eddie sighs, the material of the couch soft where he rests his cheek against it. “I just…” He thinks back to that first day Buck showed up at the station, and then to every day after that. “I think I always just wanted… to make your life easier.”

“Oh.” Buck shuts his eyes, whistles a breath through his nose. “You- you do. You do, Eddie.”

They’re quiet, at an impasse. The whole world is quiet, here at nearing 3 am with all the colors purple dark outside of this lamp lit room. Eddie can hear crickets and frogs if he listens hard enough. “Tommy was my friend. I’ve felt… guilty.”

Buck opens his eyes again. “For liking me?”

Eddie smiles a little at the phrasing — Sophia’s 8th grade voice saying like-like in his head — and nods. “It feels… disrespectful. He loved you so much, I don’t- I don’t know how he’d feel about it.”

Buck scratches a nail absently against the fabric of Eddie’s sweatpants. “We talked about it, a little.”

“Yeah?”

“Yeah. The jobs we have, you know? It’s not like- it’s not like we never got hurt, never thought about what would happen if one of us…” Buck shrugs, and his smile aches this time. “I told him if I died he had to be sad forever, only love me the rest of his life.”

Eddie laughs. “Mm. Reasonable ask.”

Buck nods, smile getting bigger, almost a grin. “I didn’t mean it, but… You know, I think he would have. He was teasing when he promised, but… he was serious, too, I think.” He sighs. “He told me he was scared I wouldn’t let anyone love me. He said I-” Buck’s voice cracks badly enough he has to wait a few moments to continue. “I’m too easy to love. I shouldn’t- I shouldn’t go without it.”

Eddie feels a little wide eyed. “That’s…”

“Isn’t that just annoyingly romantic?” Buck laughs, wiping his eyes. “Reasonable ask. Jesus.” He scrubs harder. “I think he… he wanted to make my life easier, too. You’re… you’re so alike, sometimes.” He winces. “No, that’s- I don’t mean- that’s not why I-”

“No, it’s… I know you’re not trying to replace him.” It’s not like he hasn’t had the thought, himself. He and Tommy got on so well in part because they were alike. Shared hobbies, both army, both carrying around a complicated relationship with their families and their sexuality. But they’re their own people. And- “I wouldn’t want to… try to be that, for you.”

“I wouldn’t ask you to.”

There’s another quiet minute. Hesitantly, Eddie rests his hand palm up next to Buck’s. Buck slides their fingers together, and they fit as well as any hands do. “So… what do you want to do? What do you want to happen?”

Buck squeezes. “I… I’m not sure.”

Eddie nods. “Has there… am I the first person? After?”

Buck’s eyes get a little calculating, like he’s not sure he should say whatever comes next. “I hooked up with a girl, a few months in, uh, a little before I came to the 118. In a bar somewhere, I don’t even remember… And then I went home and, uh-” he winces, glances to the side. “I almost killed myself.”

“Buck-” Jesus, jesus-

“No, no-” Buck squeezes tighter, sits up a little straighter. “I didn’t. I didn’t and I wouldn’t. I- I’m safe, I promise, Eddie. It wasn’t- it wasn’t even actually an attempt, I just… thought about it.” He swallows. “It was close, I guess.”

Eddie’s clinging more than holding his hand. “Buck- if- I don’t want to-”

“No,” Buck shakes his head, firm. “I didn’t tell you because I- I thought if we-” his other hand wraps around the two of theirs. “I don’t want you to think if we move forward you’re putting me in danger. You’re not. I- I wasn’t doing well back then, it was hardly even about- it was a lot of things. I’m going to be okay, I swear.”

“If- If you’re ever not-” words feel like physical objects in Eddie’s throat, choking and uncomfortable. “Promise me you’ll tell someone, Buck. It- it doesn’t have to be me, just- promise me.”

“I promise,” Buck says, solemn, serious. His thumb rubs gently at the back of Eddie’s hand. “I’m sorry, I- I shouldn’t have told you that.”

“No,” Eddie disagrees immediately. “It’s… I asked. I want to know. I-” they complete another loop on this circle of a conversation. “I told you, your pain isn’t a chore. You don’t need to hide anything from me.”

“Right,” Buck sighs.

“Buck.”

“No, I-” Buck laughs a little at Eddie’s admonishing tone. “That was a right, I understand, not a yeah, right. I just-” he takes a hand away from the tangle they’ve got going and runs it through his hair. “God, I’m tired.”

Eddie nods. He’s exhausted, down in his bones. “Okay. I’ve got two things to say that don’t really go together, this time.”

“Okay,” Buck smiles at him, eyes crunched up and fond. “Hit me.”

“First, I think…” Eddie sits up straighter, too, takes a deep breath. “I like you, Buck. I- care for you. I- I-” Truth has to go both ways. Fuck it. “I’m in love with you. You should probably know that.”

Buck nods, eyes wet again. “Okay.”

“But I think if we… If you want to try being together, we should take it slow, and if you need to back out, that's okay. You’re my friend, and I swear to you that’s more important to me than anything else. So… So we have to just keep being honest with each other, even if it might hurt.”

“Alright,” Buck nods again, wiping his eyes. He manages a smile. “Was that the second thing, or…”

Eddie shakes his head, lips quirking up. “No. The second thing is, you wanna come sleep with me?”

Buck throws his head back laughing, almost losing balance where he sits. Eddie grabs his elbow to make sure he won’t fall over. “Eddie-”

“It’s late,” Eddie explains, not bothering to keep the adoration out of his voice now that he doesn’t really have to. “You shouldn’t drive home, my bed’s more comfortable than the couch.”

Buck laughs again, resting his elbow on the couch and his chin on his hand. He looks at Eddie, and Eddie thinks there’s plenty of adoration in that gaze, too. He shakes his head, though. “I think I’ll still take the couch tonight, if that’s okay.”

“Of course it is.”

Buck raises their still clasped hands and kisses Eddie’s knuckles, holding his smile pressed into the skin there for a few moments. “And in the morning we can start to… figure out the rest of it?”

“Yeah,” Eddie whispers. Smiles once, twice. “See you then. Looking forward to it.”

Buck ducks his head, though his smile is still visible. “Yeah. Me too. Go- get some sleep, Eddie. I’ll-” he laughs, looking around them. “I’ll put away your peas.”

“Oh,” Eddie lifts up a bag of mushy vegetables. “No, I can do it, don’t worry about it.”

“Eddie.” Buck stands, gently taking the bag, and hesitating only a moment before he bends down and carefully kisses his cheek. From only a few inches away, eyes soft and close and blue, he says “I want to make your life easier, too.”

Eddie swallows hard, rests his hand against Buck’s cheek for just a second, and nods, momentarily incapable of words. Buck is halfway to the kitchen when he manages to say “Goodnight, Buck.”

Buck turns in the doorway. Smiles. “Goodnight, Eddie. See you in the morning.”

[cynthiav06]

Percy is a dude from the category of screaming "what the hell did you do!" and solve all the problems in 5 minutes. Everyone would have been dead a long time ago if it wasn't for him.

I have mixed opinions on this. On one hand, Percy is the type of person to wait about for the problem to disappear by itself just so he doesn't have to deal with it. Cause even before he found out he was a demigod, he was 100% done with everyone's shit.

But I do agree that he would be able to solve all problems because through so many books we have seen that no matter how much prior planning Annabeth or the Seven or anyone else does, Percy always does his own thing at the end. And it works out mostly for the better than whatever initial situation anyone else had in mind because Percy thinks almost too well on his feet. Every time.

But Percy has such low self esteem that he sees the fact that he has to make so many improvisations more so as his plans never working as less so as an exceptional ability to adapt. Especially when at times he can easily sense that some titan/giant is too powerful so he maneuvers around a direct fight and ends up defeating them by pure strategy and still ends up thinking of himself as "Oh shit I seriously had no plans. I am so reckless and stupid".

His whole character arc could have been evolving into a more confident and self assured but still the usual sarcastic laid back version of himself who no longer doubts his own abilities and becomes the great leader he showed many signs of being. But no, Rick had to ruin it all because, for some reason, 10+ books later and almost all the characters are still the same, just decorated with even more trauma. Rick being Rick, and instead of showing characters working out their traumas and insecurities, he just slaps a relationship on them, and lo and behold, all is better again somehow.

I am kind of disappointed that we never got to see Percy or any other members of the Seven do any solo missions(aside from Annabeth in MoA) . She almost had the very quintessential realization about she needs others and how her hubris will ruin everything if she doesn't keep it in check only for whatever she was doing in the later parts House of Hades and all of Chalice of the Gods to take away even that little bit of character development.

And cause solo missions working out perfectly well for Percy while most other demigods struggle a bit to make it work might finally make him realize that his plans don't suck and he is actually a really really good strategist and somehow an even better manipulator. (Though more on that and his observational skills later).

Or make characters like Frank and Leo whose unique abilities and perspectives on combat could have been shown off more, making them all become more self-reliant.

And even so we could finally get proper idea of limits of certain characters like Piper (cause charmspeak isn't going to get her everywhere) or Hazel (we so need more scenes of her surprising demigods and monsters with not only her unique jewel abilities and her magic.) Plus Nico's combat limits, Jason's stamina limits (no I am not considering that part of canon, you can't tell me it's true, I refuse to stand by it), Thalia's character development as well as her honing her powers and combat abilities more.

So yeah, we really should have gotten a few solo missions instead of so many short stories and all. And a bit more cross-over highlighting the power levels between the Norse, Greek, Roman, and Egyptian demigods/magicians/Valhalla residents/Valkyrie and so on.

To sum it up, tons of missed opportunities by Riordan and even more tragic and terrible progression of previously great characters who just needed a well-made character arc or even some favoritism. (I am looking at Grover and Rachel, who both could have done so so much if Rick had only realized the awesome potential they had).

I have said it many times that it's #percy jackson supremacy. So hell yes everyone would be dead without him, and he is arguably the best protagonist out of any other fantasy action book series. All hail Percy Jackson, the master of sass, and the most beloved but somehow still the most misinterpreted character in the fandom. Really liked this ask, would love more of these regarding Percy or any other characters.

[quietbluejay]

Perturabo Hammer of Olympia - Wrap-Up

i wish we'd gotten more scenes with calliphone like don't get me wrong her scenes were incredible but i think there should have been more setup with them

re: Dammekos and Perturabo's relationship, it deliberately leaves some things ambiguous so really you can draw your own conclusions, my conclusions are fairly clear from what I said but I'll expand on it later when my arm is fresher.

(in response to: primarchs all suck at warfare) it seems like Perturabo actually got worse at war as time went on, somehow oh it's- Haley's done it again, if you compare Perturabo fighting in the inter-city wars to his actions against the Hrud, it's the same type of tactics just shifted to their worst and most horrifying extent i say "haley's done it again" because this was kinda a theme in Dark Imperium as well and a bit in Pharos about the Imperium, and the Great Crusade especially basically doing this to people though also this is my pet meta so I may be reading too much into things it's a bit different here which is why I feel like I might be reaching and saying it's an overarching Haley thing

oh yes another thought which is that perturabo gets less and less rational through the book like take the beginning when he's able to debate with the priest, and it's an actual debate, not just him overwhelming the priest with charisma and then, well gestures at all the present day scenes my first thought was, he gets stupider lol but i think it's tied to the whole idea of the Great Crusade basically making things worse like i said re: Mortarion (did I say this on tumblr?), the Great Crusade basically magnified all the faults of the primarchs

on the topic of Perturabo's friends: you know, multiple people talk about him and magnus being besties but it seems like it was mostly onesided perturabo shills thinks about magnus in angel exterminatus and i think one other book i saw excerpts of meanwhile magnus is like "i don't think of you at all" even Horus doesn't seem to like Perturabo (in his POV segments where he thinks about Perturabo it's always with aggravation) and Horus likes everyone!

the best relationships he had were with Forrix and Calliphone with Forrix it really kind of reads like an abusive parent-child relationship and Calliphone they got along okay-ish before he left and then he never called or wrote for more than 100 years and then. well.

he does seem to want to be closer to Fulgrim in Angel Exterminatus but with Perturabo that's basically "doesn't reach out at all, just does whatever is asked and replies curtly" etc etc except for the one scene where Fulgrim got shot i'll bring out this screenshot as well

also. well. we all know how that turned out.

Perturabo: I don’t need Chaos to make bad decisions and damn my legion! Im also still thinking about the juxtaposition of perturabos brute force cf his tactics, the way he fights one vs one and the multiple hand descriptions With stuff like the delicate handwriting, the birds, I’m going to include the clockwork titan here

also I just want to say I hear a lot about the Dorn rivalry but it was touched on only a little in AE, and didn't even come up here

it showed up in the Phall novella but really that one was about Dorn's dysfunction and a lot of that one was just Perturabo going "this is definitely Sigismund we're up against" and then getting bodied when it wasn't okay okay it was a lot closer a battle than i'm making it sound lol

also ONE MORE THING because I didn't screenshot it but we got what was probably the closest thing to confirmation that canon will ever give us that primarchs (or Perturabo specifically) are ace yes there's a whole lot of ways you could read that bit (it's just Perturabo. It's just Perturabo being Perturabo bluejay stop reading so much into it. Perturabo is just not interested in women) but I dunno, I feel like it makes the most sense

wait ONE MORE THING the reason I got invested in Perturabo is he got some great character writing in AE and this has continued here where it's even better it would have been so easy to write him as one note manchild with the depth of a sheet of black construction paper but he was written in a genuinely. compelling way

i want to say something like "this is probably why he has so many fans" except it seems like 2/3 of his fans haven't actually read any books with him that being said I have seen people who read his primarch book and came out completely disgusted with him which, honestly, is a very fair judgement to make! it doesn't try to sell you on him by building up how cool he is or anything or try to make you sad for him by showing us his sad backstory it's just digging into what makes this guy tick, and a great negative character arc i said somewhere else this is basically Angel Exterminatus if it stuck the ending and didn't fall down 13 flights of stairs but anyways, really, this is why I have so much to say about Perturabo because the way he's written gives you so much to say about him

also thinking about how Perturabo went from caring about regular people and trying to build stuff for them to slowly becoming more and more indifferent, to the final nadir of Olympia I think that is a path that might have been avoided, at least partially me earlier: pert is completely unfixable me right now: wait this bit might be fixable, which could lead to positive growth sorry this is all over the place

[rumble-aint-a-rumble-without-me]

hi hi! What'd you think the boys would do if the reader was standing under mistletoe?

A/N: I see you Nonny. I see you. Thanks for sending this in, it really jump started my creativity again <3

DARRY CURTIS

I think the holidays would bring out the fun in Darry, especially if you’re around when they hit!

There’s less stress on his shoulders when you’re by his side, I think he would actually get some time to lay back and relax

Which is exactly where the mistletoe comes in!

I’ve got a feeling Two-Bit put it in the house, but somehow, one way or another, a sprig of mistletoe finds its way into the doorway in the Curtis hallway

Darry just happens to find you beneath it, more than once of course, and takes the moment to stop and kiss you nicely before continuing on

He’ll walk away smiling, whistling to himself, happy and content with everything he’s got going for him

SODAPOP CURTIS

I can just see Sodapop leaning against the doorframe, those pretty brown eyes of his looking up at the mistletoe before landing back on your face, smiling the whole time

He’d be so sweet too, gently cupping your face with this cocky little grin that you can’t help but smile back at because he’s just too pretty-

He’s definitely the one who put it up, he’d like the extra excuse to kiss you whenever he wanted

I honestly wouldn’t put it past him to keep some mistletoe in his pocket so that you just have to kiss him, no matter where you guys end up

If someone wants to complain about how the two of you always seem to end up under the mistletoe, Sodapop couldn’t care less

Mistletoe was made for kissing and the middle Curtis brother is going to take full advantage of the little plant and kiss you a million times whenever he sees a sprig

PONYBOY CURTIS

Pony would go best red when someone points out the mistletoe over your heads and you can’t convince me otherwise

He’d chuckle nervously and duck his head, rubbing the back of his neck as he glances up at you to see how you feel about the situation you’ve just found yourself in

Full disclosure, you’re probably going to have to make the first move, Pony’s a little shy, I think, so you might have to make the first step

Just cup his face in your hands and give him a little smooch and I will personally guarantee Ponyboy will go even redder than he was before

If you’re in front of the boys, expect jeering and teasing no matter how innocent your kiss may be, the boys are annoying and we all know it

But if it was just the two of you, only you guys in the hallway, only you beneath the mistletoe, Ponyboy might be a bit bolder and pull you in for the kiss, smiling shyly against your lips <3

DALLAS WINSTON

Hear me out, alright? Just stick with me and let me go on my little rant, I swear I have a point, and I hope it comes across coherent and sweet

Buck, trying to be funny, sticks a thing of mistletoe at the base of the staircase, hanging nice and pretty from the ceiling, shining under the neon lights

Let’s just that Dallas knows it there and you don’t <3

So it’s just the two of you, going on your way to his room, done with the party scene and ready to fall asleep next to each other

And all of the sudden, Dally will just stop on the staircase and turn around to look down at you with the biggest grin, nodding up towards the little plant hanging up above your heads

And it’s not like he hasn’t been kissing you all night, because I’d bet money he has been, he just likes having another excuse to kiss you

JOHNNY CADE

10/10 experience, wholesome to the max, I think Johnny would love seeing you under the mistletoe

With some coaxing from the boys, he might sidle up beside you and press a soft kiss to your cheek, a bright spark in those dark eyes of his <3

Once he has your attention, he’d give you a nice kiss, smiling against your lips as he laces his fingers with yours

I don’t see him as the kind of guy who would carry mistletoe with him, but I see him definitely taking advantage of whatever mistletoe you find yourself under

Just a few soft kisses and then you guys are good to go on, holding hands as you walk on

If you kiss him, oh hoo hoo, he’s never been more in love with you and you can just see it in his eyes and the way he looks at you

TWO-BIT MATHEWS

Without any hesitation, Two-Bit would literally make out with you beneath the mistletoe if you let him

No matter who’s watching, if you let him, he will kiss you til you’re gasping for air because he just really, really loves you, alright?

Kissing you is something he would do anyway, so why would he mind a little plant that means he has to kiss you even more

This is sort of wholesome, I can just see him kissing you to the cheers of the boys and then giving you a soft little kiss before you step out from beneath the mistletoe

He’s gonna make a comment or two about how badly he wishes mistletoe were an all-year-round sort of thing, just you wait for it, it’s definitely gonna happen a few times

Just imagine the way he would look at you if you were the one to start the kiss, God, there would be stars in his eyes and I just really want someone to look at me like that-

STEVE RANDLE

For some reason, I’ve just got this feeling that Steve would be absolutely oblivious to whenever he’s under the mistletoe and I can just see the soft look in his eyes when you kiss him

Like if he’s busy with something and you come up to him and plant a kiss on his lips, he’s just gonna be so cute and confused before realizing what’s going on

Once he realizes though, you’ll need a crowbar to get him off of you, just a forewarning

But like, I can also see him as the guy who actively hunts for mistletoe so that he can kiss you more <3

Just him dragging you through the house by your hand so he can kiss you underneath it

Like I would bet money that he and Sodapop had a super long discussion about whether or not it was a good idea to hang some mistletoe in the garage so that when you came to visit your boy, Steve had the excuse to kiss you again

TIM SHEPARD

I just wanna kiss Tim Shepard so badly, I hope you all know that know because I really really want to

I will personally guarantee, if Tim finds you beneath the mistletoe, expect him to join you, a cocky grin on his face

He’ll make some suggestive comment, letting his hands find your waist and tugging you closer to him, thumbing across the hem of the waistline of your pants

And that smile? If you don’t kiss him when he smiles at you like that, I think you’re seriously missing your opportunity

I don’t see him going out of his way to find mistletoe to kiss you under, he’s Tim Shepard and he does what he wants, including kissing you

But if a sprig of mistletoe just happens to appear in one of the doorways in the Shepard house, don’t be alarmed <3 it was done out of love

CURLY SHEPARD

Curly’s favorite part of the holiday season quickly becomes the mistletoe, especially after the two of you start getting serious in your relationship

I’ve talked a little about it before I think, just how touchy Curly is in a relationship and how often he’d kiss you, and it really just gets worse when mistletoe is in the equation

He has little to no shame whatsoever so he’d be down to make out with you beneath the plant, no matter where you guys are and who you’re around

Also also also, please for the love of everything in this miserable world, drag Curly beneath the mistletoe and kiss him until he’s breathless, only able to grin at you like the little love-sick fool he is

Curly is touch-starved and attention-starved, so if you’re the one who instigates the kisses and all that, I will personally guarantee that Curly will be over the moon with excitement

And! He’s definitely the kind of asshole who’s going to make some comment in, like, the middle of a makeout session, about how the two of you really don’t even the mistletoe to kiss <3

[voxofthevoid]

There won't be another Mundane Unclekuna Wednesday because I've...somehow finished the fic: 7 chapters and ~52k, in less than a month. I think this fic did something to me.

I'll be starting the role reversal fem!goyuu next. Prepare for cunts and tits ✨

Anyway, since there's a gaping absence of porn in the excerpts I've posted for this fic so far, here's a little snippet from the threesome scene: riding, rimming, y'know the drill.

An extra warning for dismissive/trivializing talk of rape and for teeth where you probably shouldn't put teeth—each one of these characters is deranged, trust me.

“Stop that. I’m trying to enjoy the moment here.”

“You first,” Sukuna says, saccharine sweet and with too much teeth. “Stop being a desperate whore.”

Gojou smirks. “Green’s not your color.”

“How ’bout red?” Sukuna asks, holding up a fist.

“Later,” Gojou says. “Don’t be so pissy. You had your turn anyway.”

“Had my—” Incredulous eyes pan from Gojou to Yuuji, but whatever he finds on Yuuji’s face makes Sukuna throw his head back and cackle. It’s creepy enough that Yuuji might just have gone soft if his very hot, very big teacher wasn’t parked ass-first on it. The cackling peters out, but Sukuna’s still grinning like a saber-toothed cat when he says, eyes on Yuuji but the words for Gojou, “This brat didn’t tell you how I had my turn, did he?”

“That’s not my idea of dirty talk,” Gojou says drily. He shifts on Yuuji’s cock, making a tight little noise deep in his throat. “But sure, I’ll bite. Did he take advantage of you? Tie you up and rape your tight little ass?”

Sukuna’s grin grows dangerously fixed. “You’re so sure the answer’s no. Your innocent little student wouldn’t dare, would he?”

“Sukuna—”

“Who knows.” Gojou’s smiling down at Yuuji, the eyes above it dark with pleasure but still so sharp. “I’ve found even the sweetest souls to be capable of some choice atrocities. And you—you’re not all sugar, are you, sweetheart?”

“I…”

“I don’t care,” Gojou says, his smile twisting into a leer; his eyes don’t waver from Yuuji. “I might even hold him down for you next time.”

Yuuji’s hips buck, all of their own volition.

Gojou laughs, swaying gracefully with the motion. His insides are a wet vise around Yuuji. “You’d like that, huh? What about you, Sukuna? Think we could make you scream?”

“You,” Sukuna says slowly, all glee gone and something evaluative taking its place, “are clinically insane.”

Gojou shrugs, turning that motion into a little bounce on Yuuji’s cock, a deep groan spilling from him, and the only reason Yuuji doesn’t drown that out in something louder and rawer is that he doesn’t have the air to shout.

“It’s fine if he doesn’t play, Yuuji,” Gojou tells him, with a knife slash of a smile. “You can make me scream anytime, as loud as you want.”

Yuuji snaps without a sound, fucking up into Gojou, and this time, he doesn’t stop, doesn’t want to, and Gojou doesn’t make him, moving with every rough thrust even as his walls clench around Yuuji like they can’t stand him, and he’s loud too, unfettered noises pouring from his lips, wet and wanton and everything in between, and it bites into Yuuji’s gut, tearing out blood and lust, and he spirals into a helpless frenzy, bucking his hips faster and harder, forcing Gojou to break himself open on more and more of his cock, and he’s no less loud, panting around strangled sounds and mangled words—

A shadow falls on his face before a wall of muscle and musk blocks out the sight of Gojou riding him.

“Sukuna…?” Yuuji manages to gasp, his hips still moving to drive his cock deep into Gojou.

“You’re too fucking loud,” Sukuna snaps, kneeling with his thighs on either side of Yuuji’s head. “I’ve got a better use for your filthy mouth.”

Yuuji glares at the bits dangling between Sukuna’s legs. “I’ll bite it again, I swear—”

Sukuna sits on his face.

Yuuji chokes on the rest of his words, getting a lungful of dark musk.

“Again?” Gojou asks, briefly stilling on Yuuji’s cock. “And hey, that’s rude. I want to see Yuuji, not your tattooed ass.”

“Suffer,” Sukuna says with audible satisfaction, grinding his ass down like he’s trying to suffocate Yuuji with it. “Not like you’re missing much. This fucker looks like a squashed potato on a good—shit—”

Yuuji opens his mouth wider, scraping his teeth over Sukuna’s hole and the delicate skin around it. Sukuna reacts with another curse, sharper and shriller than before, and Yuuji digs his teeth in even harder, crushing the little flicker of hesitation the same way he did when it was Sukuna’s cock between his teeth.

“Brat,” Sukuna grits out, the harsh tone doing nothing to hide the telling thinness of his voice, “keep your fucking teeth to yourself before I—”

“Don’t listen to him, Yuuji,” Gojou says, rolling his hips lazily to fuck himself on an inch or two of cock, and it’s a lot, it’s— “Growing boys need to eat, and meat’s always better when you use your teeth.”

“Shut up, you degenerate dog.”

[dwreader]

iwtv pt 2 book vs. show

in the book the loumand courtship leading up to the sham trial feels like it takes place over a few weeks (???) but now that we know the show is extending that to more like 2 years, there's a lot more space for smaller dramatic arcs that help build to the climax. like in the book we pretty much immediately get one vibe from louis (horny for armand), one vibe from armand (horny for louis, wants claudia gone) and one vibe from claudia (hates the theatre/armand). loumand get together, madeline is made as a consolation for claudia and then the big climactic blow up.

idk what exactly the show's cooking but just from the trailers we've already seen multiple dynamics between claudia and theatre vampires. she's clearly excited watching their show and riding with them in the motorbike/mansion scene (there's also scene where they lift her in a chair and she's laughing some sort of initiation?), then her eventual annoyance with being tasked with dressing up as a doll and giving out flyers, and her diary entry where she's like fuck these vampires. in the earlier motorbike outing she gives louis a cute encouraging nod when he wants to stay outside to flirt with armand so how exactly that develops into the later anger towards them is again, way juicier to explore now that we have more breathing space. [which is again why i hope they don't rush these developments in favor of other less relevant flashbacks]

the feeling i got from the earlier released cafe clip is that claudia has grown a bit tired of louis latching onto her as his only sense of identity possibly because they've become so co-dependent during their harsh travels through europe, which matches nicely to book claudia wandering off alone at times and louis being confused/upset about it. that makes him easier prey for armand. so again how do we go from that to claudia feeling threatened by louis's relationship with armand after the initial encouragement?? this is all a lot more complicated than what's given to us in the book and hopefully a sign of better writing than what AR was capable of.

similarly loumand's courtship doesn't seem as straightforward as just them hooking up and killing claudia like armand basically wants her GONE right off the bat and doesn't wait long to do it. in the show, whatever's happening builds up over the course of years and while there is a clear courtship phase in the show, it also seems like loumand are in a real relationship for a while (and potentially with even a mini break up) before things finally come to blows. the rainy bench and museum bits seem to be the break up/goodbye but somehow these four end up happily drinking martinis before the trial (exact same clothes on claudia and madeline). wtf is going on??? did the break up happen as a result of claudia's accusation that he's choosing armand over her? is the making of madeline a reconciliation between both loumand and louis and claudia (also in book facilitated by armand's mind control)? it's potentially a good way to explore what i felt was an underdeveloped aspect of the book, that is why armand finally decides he has to kill claudia as opposed to just letting her and madeline leave town together.

that's not even getting into how and when madeline gets dragged into it cause the trailers haven't given us a lot of info on that. or what the hell is going on between louis and santiago since we've now gotten multiple hints in the trailers to focus our attention a bit more on that relationship. either way the relationships feel a lot more realistic where they go through sometimes contradictory spells of contentment and conflict rather than just point A to point B.

[literary-illuminati]

2024 Book Review #26 – The Late Americans by Brandon Taylor

This was my monthly dose of high literature, chosen because I subscribed to the author’s substack for a while and generally liked it. After somehow accidentally grabbing historic fantasy and dystopian sci fi, this time it did was actual proper adult contemporary litfic, even! So y’know, horizons successfully expanded.

The book is honestly a caricature of what an outsider would guess contemporary litfic to be. Meandering and plot light, eight different POVs whose chapters’ are largely character studies of their own interiorities and relationships, deeply preoccupied with the process and structures that produce Fine Art, about a bunch of miserable queer grad students in Iowa City. It did at least refrain from having a character actually be an author attending the Iowa Writers Workshop so like, not totally free of restraint here, but it’s still nearly overpowering.

Saying ‘plot light’ is still almost overstating it, really. Each chapter is a vignette from the perspective of a different character, with varying levels of personal connection to the other protagonists. Some individual characters have little arcs, but none exactly undergo a profound transformation – the book is largely just a study of them, their relationships, their damage and their neuroses as they drift through a year of their lives.

The characters themselves are all resolutely unexceptional. No prodigies, no savants, no stars in the making – they are all talented and dedicated, but in ordinary and unremarkable ways for their milieu. It’s precisely that ordinariness that Taylor seems most interested in – how people conceive of their relationship to art when they’ve devoted everything to a craft that only barely seems to love them back.

The relationships between the characters is the other real driver of the book. They’re all..kind of dicks? In the thoughtless, inarticulate, emotionally-illiterate-lashing-out way of incredibly stressed people in their mid-20s (though exaggerated a bit for effect. Or at least, I hope so). Everyone is broken and jagged, and rubs up against everyone else only with violence and force – resentful friendships, unhappy romances, comfortable enmities. No one ever makes a clean break with anyone – no one shows much sign of being able to even if they wanted – and what character growth there is is a matter of compromise and accommodation, making peace with the people you love around you whatever their shortcomings.

The characters are all very well-drawn, their neuroses and struggles believable and mostly compelling. There’s probably one or two too many of them – at a certain point I did start having trouble with whose tragic childhood (they of course all have tragic childhoods) or insufferable emotionally unavailable boyfriend was whose – but in the final analysis they all mostly worked for me. That said, the two female POVs seem almost..tangential? Less connected to everyone else, less richly examined, less grounded and dirty and vicious. Which is a bit unfortunate, both in terms of the novel’s overall strength and because almost literally the only other women with lines in it are a bunch of deeply unkind caricatures of poetry/literature-as-activism types in one of the character's seminars.

Speaking of relationships – if you don’t know what the stereotypical litfic sex scene looks like, this book overflows with examples to learn from. Partially just trying to be true to life about a cast of horny gay guys in their mid-20s – if you draw a chart of who fucked who I’m pretty sure it connects every man in the main cast – but the book also just tries to get a lot of characterization and symbolism across through sex scenes, and ends up devoting more word count and flowery prose to them than anything I’ve ever seen besides outright erotica. All the sex scenes do have a fascinatingly vast variety of valences and tones, though – some are passionate and romantic, some flagrantly exploitative or transactional, some are just something to do on a boring break in the middle of nowhere. The sex can get a bit monotonous, but at least it’s never one-note.

Taylor’s very interested in the culture of like, capitalized prestigious Fine Art, its production, and the relation of the university to both. The book, broadly, seems to take the point of view that the whole edifice is one great machine for chewing up and spitting out hopes and dreams. It’s a recurring theme that even among these people who have dedicated their entire lives to poetry or dance of the piano are unable to spend it making the kind of art they want. And that’s not even getting into how all the people you’re supposed to be making art with are the most insufferable pieces of shit to ever see the sun.

And on the note of insufferable pieces of shit – there’s also just a very strong recurring theme of class. Getting a MFA is largely the province of people who don’t really have to care about a near-future paycheck, and the cast is divided between those who fit the description and feel varying amounts of repressed guilt and awkwardness about it, and those that have to work some job to pay the bills and display a remarkable amount of restraint in not decking at least one classmate a day. The irony of art imagined as activism or world-changing being near-exclusively the result of elite educations and trust funds is bitter and plentiful, especially among the poets.

It’s, I think, a very sort of subtle humour that across the first half or so of the book the really poetic prose and most evocative imagery is used near-exclusively to describe the vulgar, low-class survival work that the less fortunate half of the protagonists do to support themselves – meal prep in a hospice kitchen, preparing cuts of beef in a slaughterhouse, recording porn of oneself to post online – while the actually art they create isn’t much described at all. This doesn’t last, but it’s a very funny joke while it does.

The book is, on a sentence-to-sentence and page-to-page level, really quite beautiful. Unfortunately, it ends up feeling like less than the sum of its parts. There’s a bit of a running narrative connecting half or so of the protagonists, who really are major parts of each others lives and enrich each others narratives with an outside view – and then the rest only appear outside their own chapters as cameos, if that. Exactly one characters gets two chapters from his POV – the first, and about halfway through the book – and he’s one of the people who barely touches the rest of the cast, so it’s not like he’s actually the protagonist or propelling the narrative. You end up with a novella and a bunch of short stories that, put together, are both constantly hitting the same beats but also lacking any real through-line tying them all together and pushing things forward. Which really isn’t helped by the fact that the ending reads like someone gave Taylor a maximum wordcount 5 pages before he hit it and he just did the best he could.

[forgwater]

Off the Deep End and into the Abyss

Idea: Since it’s mermay, I thought I’d write something for our favorite shady sea creatures from NRC! It would seem that when the octatrio make an appearance in their merfolk form it’s usually tied in with pirates or the little mermaid and I want to try something a little bit different and write them as the mafia merfolk they were always meant to be! Hopefully I manage to translate my idea properly!

This is more or less the prologue. This piece sets the scene.

I might make this a proper AU and add the other dorms too. So, feel free to inquire!

Summary: You take a job with one of the local gangs to transport some goods for them. The madol they were offering for the finished job was an offer too good to refuse. What makes this even better is that you’ve done this before! worked with these people before, rowed your boat this rout before. It was gonna be so easy! It was supposed to be easy! It was supposed to be uneventful! Now you’re in deeper trouble than you were before… Let’s just hope you can escape in one piece… Oh, and! Good luck.~ you’ll need it.

Reader is gender neutral

WARNINGS: swearing, mafia stuff, yandere tendencies. Feel free to tell me if I missed anything

..........

.......

.....

....

...

“Load that crate up!”

Whoosh

“Is the coast clear?”

“Don’t just stand there! Move! Damnit!”

Splash!

“Careful! You idiot!”

Creak…creak….CREAK!

“These damn boats are too fuckin’ loud!”

“…you’re too loud…”

“Care to repeat that?!”

“Easy!”

Sigh

If there’s one reason you’re gonna get caught is because of these bastards and their ‘whisper’ shouting!

swish…swish…

It’s quiet.

swish...

The boat is gently moving though the water as you settle to remind yourself why you put up with all of that.

‘One more job and I’m done.’ you reason with yourself ‘Just this one and it’s over!’ The madol are piling up right in front of your eyes! You can almost taste the sweetness of victory! You’ll be living the good life for a while after this job!

It’s all gonna be so worth-

AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!

H-huh…?...

“WHAT IS THAT?!”

“IT CAN’T BE! NO!”

“IT-IT’S THE SEA DEVILS!”

No… this is not possible! You checked! There were no merfolk sightings! What-

SLAM!

....CRreaaaAK...!

“…No…” gulping down your anxiety, you turn.

Only to come face to face with a mismatched gaze. Bemused and thoroughly entertained at the hell being unleashed all around the both of you. Your breath stills at the sight of the creature’s teeth. So dangerously sharp they’d have too easy a time tearing into your flesh.

A strong cold touch followed by cutting, claw-like nails digging into your arm stops you from moving away. You wince and the merman... laughs. His grin parts and-

“Awwwww~ you really thought you could get away?~” he coos and leers “You know, it’s kinda rude to show up unannounced on someone else’s turf.”

Wait-! he’s-... he’s leaning too much on that side-

“Let G-“

Crreeeaaaaaak!

“So stay and make up for it!”

SPLASH!

Water fills your senses and you kick and thrash but he’s not letting go. You try to free yourself, to swim away... and somehow, finally you break the surface.

Gasping for air and desperately clawing at whatever you can you try to speak again: “I-“ cough “I SAID-“

“Oya~ What is going on here?”

The agonized screeches of your fellow humans die out as your breath leaves you once more when you face the mirrored image of the first merman.

‘No.. no no nonononono no no no NO!’ This can’t be happening! You’re imagining things! The canal was clear! There are no merfolk here! You checked damnit! The others checked! This… this just- When- when did they arrive?!

“Hehehe~ look at them Jade! They’re trembling! Don’t they look like a cute little shrimp?! Hahaha!”

“Fufufu~ Floyd! You’re being quite rude to our new friend. Can’t you see they’re experiencing trauma? They’re probably in… shock.”

“Now who’s the rude one?”

Kick!

“Owww! Jaaade! You said Shrimpy here was in shock!”

“Fufufu, my mistake.”

In response to your protest, ‘Floyd’ tightens his hold on you as ‘Jade’ fixes you with his sharp eyes and begins to speak: “Don’t loosen your hold on them, dear brother.~ We have to escort our lovely companion onto dry land once more. Azul’s waiting.”

‘Azul’…?...

What- what are they planning?! Why would they keep you alive? Why bring you on land? This… is not good…. This is probably worse than if they tried to drown you!

You begin your erratic movements again. Hopefully you can hit a sensitive spot. Hopefully-!

You can’t let them drag you whenever they please!

If you could just-

“I thought we went over this!” Floyd hisses, annoyed tone carrying through the cold night. “Jaaaade...! Can’t we just knock them out for a few minutes?!”

“I don’t think Azul would be too pleased with that.”

“Awwwww! C’mon!”

“We are supposed to bring them back conscious.”

“Where are you taking me?!” your voice comes out frantic “What do you want from me?!” Jade stares at you for a second before giving you a sly smile.

“Ah, but what fun would it be if you knew?~ That’ll just ruin the surprise.” So, he’s not gonna give anything away, huh….

“Yeah! Just be patient, shrimpy!” This is not good. This is not good at all!

.......

....You might as well let them take you back to land… maybe you can shake them then.

They’re merfolk. If they want to get on dry land they’ll have to crawl. ‘I can outrun them’ you steel yourself.

… But there’s someone waiting… can you dodge them too?

You go with the flow and allow your captors to carry you over without much resistance. You have to conserve your energy.

The mermen keep sharing glances. Are they onto you?

You gulp. The bite of the icy water is catching up to you.

Has the water always felt this cold…?

No. You can’t let that distract you… you have to get away the moment you touch the ground.

As the three of you get closer and closer to the water’s edge, a silhouette begins to make itself clear.

“…You’ve been quiet for a while…” Jade’s remark is followed by his claws lightly pressing themselves into your arm, the sensation demands your attention… but it also demands you face the merman first.

“…Just thinking…”

“About what?’ Oh… he doesn’t miss a beat, does he.

“…This and that.” you try to deflect.

“That’s boring.” Floyd joins the conversation. “Tell us what you’re actually thinking.”

Like hell you’re gonna do that!

“Who’s that on the bank?” you question.

“...Oh! That’s Azul! You gotta meet him!”

“They don’t really have a choice in that matter, Floyd.”

This is the guy they mentioned before! You have to learn more. It could come in handy.

“…Is he your boss?”

….

The mermen share a look.

“Not exactly.” Jade answers first. “We work with and for him.”

“He’s got fun ideas.” You can feel the shrug in Floyd’s voice.

Well… this... is an interesting arrangement…

“Ah! We’re almost there.” Jade calls to Floyd, who suddenly comes to a halt.

What are they doing now....?....

Jade brings out two vials, the glass glistens in the moonlight and the liquid moves back and forth. The merman uncorks one and helps the other drink before repeating the action for himself.

What… what did they just drink?

“Hold on tight, shrimpy! We’re getting you back on land.”

And with that you are once again being all but dragged towards the waiting shadow.

You’re getting closer…

And closer…

Closer!

The moment Floyd’s grip lessens you bolt!

The thud of your shoes echoes though the dark night and your clothes cling to you. But you don’t stop running.

Your heartbeat’s loud in your ears and the adrenaline is running high. Maybe you can do it!

You can escape!

You can-

“Having fun?~” Floyd’s voice feels like a punch in the gut. All air leaves your lungs but you don’t dare stop, nor look at him.

HOW DID HE-?!

WHEN-?!

“If you stop running, I promise I won’t break too many bones!” HE’S MAD!

HOW ARE YOU SUPPOSED TO BELIEVE THAT?!?!

Maneuvering away from Floyd’s hands you end up bumping into something- someone else.

Jade.

“This has been quite the impromptu run… although not unexpected.” He gives you an all too polite smile.

Oh… maybe you shouldn’t have run…

The two mermen… now human looking, catch you with practiced ease.

They’ve done this before.

“Now, shrimpy, it’s time you faced your punishment.” Floyd… he sounds too cheery for this line of work. He stands on your right side.

“It is time to face your crimes.” Jade’s chillingly calm voice rings from your left.

The silhouette you’ve seen before steps in front of you. He sighs and then he begins speaking:

“Well then! Now that that-“ he gestures vaguely “stunt is done, I believe we should be formally acquainted.” He points to the mermen flanking your sides and continues “These are Floyd and Jade Leech. My business associates. They also happen to be twins, if you didn’t figure that out before.”

The twins let out their greetings and then the white haired man resumes talking.

“My name is Azul Ashengrotto. I run the Octavinelle Mafia and you have been smuggling goods on my territory. How do you plan to pay for-“

“I didn’t know! I got all the info I could! This is considered neutral ground! And water!” you protest.

“Ah… I see your mistake.” Azul smiles and brings a hand to his chin.

“Do you-“

“I just so happen to have acquired this territory this very morning. Legally as well.”

…what…

…legally?...

Your face drops, together with all your hopes. But the man continues undeterred.

“Since I am quite gracious and us here at Octavinelle practice benevolence, I have come up with an idea that will benefit us both.”

So… was… this was planned… wasn’t it?

“I have drafted a contract for you to sign. Nothing big. You’ll be working for me until you pay all the money you have made by dealing on this very route. Ah!-“ he stops you before you can even begin “since you are the only one alive all the charges get transferred to you. I eagerly await your cooperation. You’ll be coming tomorrow to sign all the legal paperwork. Jade and Floyd will fetch you and bring you to the Mostro Lounge, I’m sure you’ve heard of it. You’ll start working immediately after.” Azul leaves no room for you to argue.

He then turns to leave, the twins following after releasing you.

“And don’t think about running away and skipping town." the man clears his throat.

"We’ll find you again no matter where you try to go or hide. You belong to Octavinelle now.”

.....

Good luck getting out of this.~

[mazzystar24]

I've been thinkin bout that bt scene. Obviously I might be totally wrong but idk, I feel like T kinda muttered "god I hope so" into his wine glass & not directly at Buck & he was being maybe kinda insecure, like in his head maybe since we assume he's older & more experienced he might think that's why Buck is sticking around?

Like idk, it's a call back somehow to the first date and the closet comment? Like T wants this to work out because he thinks Buck is adorable but you know they aren't really clicking so ya know whatever works? (But eventually it will fully break down)

And the way Buck said "but you think I do?" about the daddy issues is like Buck goin "....wait what?" in his head because his head does tilt a bit to the side like 🤔🤔🤔 And it's showing that they don't fit.

That it was intentionally weird & off putting.

Tho I do think the bit where T says "but your father is alive" wasn't meant to be snarky. Buck then says "Exactly" which I took as Buck being all "exactly, my dad's just THAT shitty and he's not going to change."

Off course then the speech Buck gave Chris is a bit eh, but like two things can be true at the same time. XD

Also I'm def not a bt shipper, Buddie all the way but yeah that's just how it came off to me. Lol.

I hope this makes sense.

I have been swamped with exams and neglected my inbox so 💐💐💐💐💐

Eh I feel like it was definitely more flirty than insecure like I’m tempted to add the gifsets for reference but I don’t want it to show up in the gif makers’ notifications but yeah like as he’s saying it it’s 100% like suggestive vibes rather than self deprecating making a joke about an actual insecurity vibe

Like I think for me this is definitely a horses not zebras moment

I do keep think that maybe the like off putting moments are intentional because so many weird choices have been made with BT

For the your dad is alive I think I wasn’t super clear on my opinion on it but like I don’t mean he said it to be snarky per say more so that the implications behind that line are things like “you’d feel differently if he wasn’t” or “you can fix things before he does” or as if that’s something to be thankful for or recognise when talking about his pseudo father nearly dying

Like the reason I hate this line isn’t that it necessarily has to be cruel intentions on Tommys part but rather that this sorta narrative gets forced down traumatised peoples throats CONSTANTLY (sometimes with good intentions) and it’s such a bullshit rhetoric and it’s even more bullshit to use that line while talking about this found family/pseudo father he has nearly dying

Also yeah that’s definitely what that “exactly” was meant to be like yup a dead dad would at least be less traumatising, a lot easier to explain, and probably easier on my therapist than this clusterfuck but alas

BUCKS SPEECH TO CHRIS- okay lots of thoughts on this because my mom got confused and picked thought daughter:

Do I love that the writers low-key made it sound like he’s comparing Eddie to the Buckley parents? no I hate it but KR was writing for this ep so what did we expect

Do I think a marginally better way to interpret it is that it was more so continuing that theme of paralleling buck and Chris’ issues? Yes

Are the basic and I mean like the very abstract very simple and nothing further parallels there? Yeah like parent not over their grief causes conflict between parent and child

Other than that no not at all Eddie never involved Chris in this, Kim came over with her Shannon cosplay without telling him, Eddie also never intentionally emotionally harmed Chris while the Buckley parents spent bucks entire life intentionally being the absolute worst™️ and emotionally neglectful and were shit parents to Maddie too by forcing her to pretend her brother didn’t exist while she was a child and mourning said brother

But I also think it’s actually very in character for buck to continue to sympathise with them and cut them an impossible amount of slack by trying to draw parallels to this situation like it’s less trying to paint Eddie more like them and more so using Eddie (someone he cares about and loves and sympathises with deeply) as a frame of reference to mentally try to humanise and sympathise with his own parents - idk if I’m making sense but in my head it makes sense

Like it’s actually a pretty common thing you see with traumatised people they’ll sorta draw parallels that aren’t there between themselves or the people they care about and the people who traumatised them because a lot of traumatised people will just constantly seek to understand that perspective more and sympathise with it like hell I’ve seen it with the people in my life doing it and it’s like woah those situations are very different I need you to recognise that

Loved hearing your view of it and it totally made sense!!!

Gonna see if there are any quick asks I can answer before I get back to my revision cos I definitely yapped more than I expected for this

[hollersparrow]

just some 9-1-1 headcanons/plot bunnies

so i've kinda gone on a 9-1-1 deep dive that started out casual and rapidly turned into an obsession. a few things to note, i definitely think that buck and eddie have something (whether it's romantic or queerplatonic is up for grabs but there's something beyond friendship there and no one can convince me otherwise) and i am a strong subscriber to any tropes that strongly encourage found family/families so...make of that what you will

anyway, after binging all of the available episodes, i have several headcanons that i want to put out there (for some reason a lot of them are from season 5???)

ana realizing that there's more to eddie and buck's relationship than it seems in that scene from s5e2 when she brings christopher to the station. buck clocks that eddie has started panicking immediately and ana just like. *looks* at him for a few seconds in a way that just makes me think that this woman clocked that they have a deeper than normal connection to one another. that or she's heard about buck but obviously has never seen eddie and buck interact and is suddenly realizing exactly what people keep trying to tell her about

a buck/eddie-focused exploration of the aftermath of 'brawl in cell block 9-1-1'. buck freaking out once mitchell's been carted off to get his heart taken out and refusing to let eddie go anywhere while checking him for injuries, eddie having some uncomfortable realizations about just how affected buck was by the whole experience. personally, i feel that would lead to them actually talking about the sniper and all the mess that goes with it

lots of potential for temporary angst with eddie having a lot of big feelings about having failed as a husband in his marriage to shannon and not wanting to get married again b/c of it (thinks he doesn't deserve another shot at it? thinks there's something fundamentally wrong with him to where he can't? don't know how this would manifest exactly). personally, i see this eventually leading to him and buck realizing that they're more or less functionally married and they may as well reap some tax benefits from it but you can do whatever you want with that

buck goes to the funerals of many of the people who die on calls that he's a part of. it's mostly people that he directly worked on and he doesn't tend to tell anyone that he's a first responder that was involved (b/c of how devon's sister reacted in s1) but he does go to them.

kinda of tied to the headcanon above this but! buck getting adopted by a bunch of older queer folk following the deaths of mitchell and thomas in s2. he goes to the joint funeral that was planned for the two of them, in part b/c he wants/needs to and in part bc he accidentally took a few photos from the scrapbook from the scene (he shoved them in his pocket on instinct when thomas collapses). anyway, he shows up and the older queer community has rallied to show up at the funeral and they recognize him as someone who needs more found family and just adopt him into their ranks. i could see the 118 finding out about this soon after it happens or not until years later; maybe karen and hen finding out sooner than everyone else but buck asks them to keep it quiet?

s5e14 where jee-yun gets sick? what if it actually WAS leukemia and she somehow ends up needing some sort of donation (plasma? bone marrow? idk really anything about how cancer is treated). jee's put on a list and they start testing family members, none of whom work out until...buck. cue maddie not wanting to ask that of buck b/c of all the baggage that comes with daniel and the buckley parents are absolute assholes about it (along the lines of completely disregarding buck's autonomy as a human being in the face of their precious granddaughter being in trouble), maybe a chimney that isn't trying to be pushy about it but also just...can't help pushing a bit, a buck that so overwhelmed with everything that he's feeling that he goes off the rails a bit. obviously everything works out and buck donates or whatever needs to happen and jee-yun is completely fine b/c i don't actually want it to end badly

the entire 'buck's a sperm donor' family argument and maraget saying "you're a miracle baby yourself" made my fucking blood boil and i want to see a better exploration of the fallout of that statement b/c you just know that there was more to it than it just getting brushed off

buck telling maddie that he has a checklist that he goes through every time he wakes up post-coma in s6e12. chris and eddie being part of that list, where buck is just constantly checking up on them to make sure that they're still in LA (part of the reason why it's so easy for him to fall asleep/relax on the diaz couch or in their house in general). eddie doesn't notice the uptick in check-ins b/c he's too busy figuring out the least intrusive ways for him to check in on buck at all times b/c he NEEDS to know that buck is alive/breathing. once eddie notices though, he confronts buck about it

maddie asking buck to be her maid of honor for her wedding since hen is obviously going to have best man privileges. mostly just exploring the ridiculous that this brings up and everyone joking about buck in a dress (up to you whether he actually wears one to the wedding or not), but i have to include a side note that the buckley parents are dicks about it and have no sense of humour/fun

literally anything featuring athena being worried about buck as a maternal figure, i was so disappointed by her lack of interaction when buck was struck by lightning and, while i'm so fucking happy to have may acknowledging that buck is bobby's son too, we missed out on athena being devastated by the situation as well

there will probably be more of these to come at some point knowing myself.

[sehodreams]

okie :3 i’m just about to go to bed but i thought i’d see what i can think of in the meantime because sungchan has been filling my brain with nasty, impure thoughts lately (have u listened to ‘honestly’ yet? i’m literally. gone.)

so idk, i just feel like he would be so cute with a chubby!gf, he’d buy you cute clothes, and makeup, and plushies, and food, whatever you wanted, anytime you wanted it, but.. because i’m sick, and i love toxic! headcanons i also like imagining sungchan as being the type of bf to like.. idk, he’s the type to buy you a gym membership and be like we’ll go together <33 or buy dresses that are a size too small for you just to see your tits bursting out the top and the material squeeze ur curves, you’d be uncomfortable in the clothing but it’d turn him on so bad to see you squeezed into whatever dress or skirt he bought you and to have you tugging on the hem all night while you’re out at a party or the club, i feel like toxic!sungchan would treat you like a princess in private but when ur out together, he’d always be trying to embarrass you, idk, like poking and pinching at you, tugging on your clothes to make them ride up and making you feel “big” … i could see him like ordering you vodka sodas or just straight shots cuz they’re less calories<33 but ur such a lightweight ur drunk after one or two :((( and making comments about other girls, saying things to you like if you tried harder you could easily look more like them :(((((( he says it all in such a way that it seems like he’s looking out for you, and you really can’t question it when your back is against the wall or the mattress and he’s eating you out like he’s starved, like your pussy is his last meal and the way he brushes your bangs out of your face is so tender despite the way he’s forcing your leg to the side so he can thrust deeper inside of you, ugh, he’d be so rough with you and you’d love it, but he’d still be sweet, kissing you all over your body, sucking on your tits, he’d make sure you come more than once, usually more than twice until you’re begging for mercy and he tells you he loves you because he does, he’s just worried someone else will think you’re as lovely and beautiful as he does, and then what will he do? sungchan is very insecure, and knows he could never be enough for you :((( so he has to make sure you feel like you’ll never be enough for him💔💔

so. whoa i wrote way more than i intended, but yeah, i guess that’s all i wanted to say for now.

You know what? This Sungchan sounds PERFECT as the bully!Sungchan that (somehow) is now your boyfriend.

To be honest the Sungchan I saw as your toxic!boyfriend is a bit different since he wasn't bully!Sungchan, but I can see how you got all these ideas (especially the scene in which he's tugging your dress up, god, that's so him).

I love that you've thought this much about how they would be together. Everything you said is Pinching Sungchan, and the vodka scene, HOW DID YOU COME UP WITH THAT? I LOVE IT 🩷

The Sungchan I thought about wasn't exactly trying to change you, he did hurt you in different ways to make you stay with him, but I don't think he ever wanted to actually change your body, meanwhile the Sungchan you described has eagerly showed that he wants you to lose weight (the gym membership, saying that you'd look like other pretty girls if you lost weight), but I like that even while trying to change you he feels so turned on with your body, and that he's trying to make you more insecure than him for you to not run away 😭.

[dduane]

Hello! I was reading your shopping list method for outlining as described on your blog, and I was curious about how rigidly or not you applied that - do you strictly stick to ten things for each stage? How do you decide which actions/events are essential? How detailed are the ten things that need to happen surrounding the key event? What do you do if there's a gap or if the essential elements don't connect very well (if that ever happens to you)? I feel like I occupy an annoying middle-ground between pantsing and outlining where I don't do either effectively, and when I sit down to try to outline a story that's been in my head a long time I end up with a list of every little scene I've ever wanted to put in, but it still feels unstructured and missing essential plot elements somehow. So if you had any further advice than what you've already shared, I'm very interested! Thank you for all of your work, including your blogging!!

Well, first of all: you're very welcome. :)

Now, as for outlining: (and here's the blog post we're referring to, for those of you who haven't seen it...)

The ten-things-that-need-to-happen-per-chapter concept isn't meant to be so much a rule as a guideline, and you should feel free to alter the numbers and proportions as suits you.

(Inserting a cut here, because this goes on for a bit. Caution: contains brutalized characters, backwards reasoning, abstractions and imponderables.)

For one thing: every novel (and indeed every story, but at the moment we're dealing with novels) has its own rhythm, bound to its internal drama arcs and the way they intersect. There may be chapters in which not a whole lot happens to the characters extemally, but quite a lot internally: or vice versa. In such cases you're more likely to end up with a lower Things That Have To Happen number than in other chapters... and this is just fine. Other chapters may wind up with more than ten, and that's fine too. You should feel free to pull things-that-need-to-happen out of where you had them slotted in at first and stick them into other chapters that are less crowded if it suits you and the rhythm of the narrative.

You may also prefer shorter chapters, which more or less suggests you'll wind up with a larger list of Things That Need To Happen In The Book As A Whole. That's just fine too. When C.J. was passing this method on to me, both of us were writers who preferred fairly long chapters—often in the 10K range—which many writers (and editors) these days would consider nonconducive to readers' shortening attention spans. But this, again, is your call. The genre of book you're writing, and/or the kind of book you're writing. may have different protocols, structures, or traditions for dealing with its own kinds of internal rhythm. Tailoring your outline to those requirements makes perfect sense.

In short: move stuff around in the list-of-lists until it feels right. :)

...How to decide the nature of the items that Have To Happen? It's tough to nominate a method while we're dealing in abstracts. But dividing them up into physical actions (movement through space and time...) and emotional interactions has worked well for me.

The physical start-here,-go-there stuff is generally easiest to work with. Again, while dealing in abstractions: a book's structure can be considered as a pile of escalating problems and increasingly difficult barriers that have to be overcome. Ideally the worst problem(s)—physical or situational—should be nearest the end, so that its/their solution will be experienced as keenly as possible for the reader's maximum satisfaction. (But more importantly, for yours.) Sometimes I look at whatever end state I'm attempting to achieve and reason backwards from that, using the results to erect mid-plot signposts (for the characters and myself) pointing in that direction. So: find and define the place your people must get to, and can't. Imagine what being there is going to be like. Stand on top of the highest barrier to it and examine the terrain. Then (re)trace your characters' necessary steps.

On the character-interaction side: You need to know your characters well enough to sit in their heads and feel their strengths and weaknesses from the inside. (While also knowing, from the outside, the characters' own ability or inability to recognize those.) When I'm considering/building the emotional events that will make up the plot, since I'm not trying to reach my destination/solution with the least possible drama, but the most, I start getting cruel. I look at my story and try to find out how much trouble I can make for my characters— what roadblocks I can throw in their way, what situations can seem maximally settled before I come up from underneath and unsettle them.

But this is absolutely being cruel to be kind—and here you get to employ the excuse that a God might to Its creations, or a smith might to the metal in the forge: "This is going to hurt right now, but it's all about making you much more than you were, and you'll thank me for it later." ...Or maybe they won't: depends on the character. Regardless, your characters prove what they're made of—who they are and who they can be—by being put through the worst shit you can devise for them that also suits the plot you've embedded them in. Exploit their weaknesses? Absolutely. Smack them down at their strongest? You bet. Do both at once? Sure, if you can. After the hammering, the resulting alloy will be that much tougher.

The characters themselves may help you sort out what moves to make. Sometimes you can look at a character you know well and mutter under your breath, "Come on, what do you need so this whole mess works out?", and get back a useful answer. For example, the protagonist's answer to "What needs to happen" for The Door Into Fire turned out to be, "I need to stop being terrified of making choices and learn how to make hard ones, even if it kills me." (Which it then nearly does, because I know how to take a hint.) That core issue I was then able to break into chunks and distribute throughout the body of the narrative, encouraging poor Herewiss to fight his way through to the result, one piece at a time. The resulting book got me nominated two years running for the Astounding Award—so this approach may have merit. :)

...Anyway. None of this is ever easy work. Your characters won't be the only ones on the drama curve. But if you stay committed to them and the story you're putting them through, my experience says you'll eventually find the core around which your plot will start to (seemingly organically) organize. After that it's just a matter of pushing the pieces around until the structure feels right.

So good hunting!

[fullscoreshenanigans]

What do you think a REN wedding would be like?

I feel like there would be one! Possibly two!

REN enthusiasts have been blessed with some absolute gems of fanfics that I've adopted as my own personal canon on this topic, making me very fond of Emma learning about weddings from the books' in Grace Field's library and immediately thinking of course she and her two best friends should have one. They've been inseparable since she arrived at the house, and she can't imagine her days without either of them, so the only solution is for all three of them to marry each other.

I adore the way Ray's chapter of Between Your Fingers, Between the Lines by honeynpeaches opens when he's around six years old and Emma dropping flower crowns on the boys' heads, declaring they'll be wed that very day.

Everything about this little snapshot is perfect. Emma walking onto the scene framed in the imagery of a halo. Norman being an adorably smitten baby going on the fritz for the first few minutes of the entire conversation. Ray being an amalgam of emotions held together with a rubber band on the verge of snapping. His reaction to Emma's quick and casual defiance of whatever she deems arbitrary is a wonderful blend of comedic and heartbreaking. The pure frustration at her flippancy born out of a deep and endearing love that trumps his fear of the whatever consequences result from confronting Isabella.

But he sees how Emma and Norman smile, and he can’t deny them. He’s never been able to. Not really. Not when it matters most…He’d give anything for them, and he already knows it.

Down to the more minute gestures of Norman moving to calm Ray after he's calmed himself down in a familiar, reassuring rhythm

(Chapter 28 Bonus Comic about Chapter 14's flashback)

with the gentle placement of his hand over the other boy's, and Emma taking his other hand to move close to her heart to subconsciously convey how much it would mean to her to be able to reify their bond through such a ceremony, even if it's only pretend.

For how their play wedding goes, I love what @carnivorouswillgraham does in w.a.m.s. that I've already gushed about here

But aaah do I love the idea of the music box Emma received from Isabella as her gift being the musical accompaniment to their ceremony.

(Mystic Code Book Chapter 1 Q&A)

In addition to them just all being adorable little babies enjoying the chance to recreate such an important ceremony between all three of them, even if just pretend.

Baby Ray going through an existential crisis but still trying to be present for his bffs/soon-to-be spouses and genuinely finding some solace in these moments with them that will solidify his resolve to confront Isabella in just a few days.

Just continue to fucking gut me.

For adulthood, I'm half and half of whether they'd have one, but if they do and Emma regains her memories, I imagine it playing out very similar to how it does in @salsae's to have and to hold, which I've gushed about a bit already here.

All of their friends and family gathered together at one of their homes or whichever quiet venue could accommodate such a large gathering, some of their siblings walking them down the aisle as Nat plays the piano, Emma in relaxed summer attire befitting or her kind and free spirit, incorporating the paper cups as part of the vows and the galaxying braining of turning it into a REN thing rather than solely an NE one, the trio taking turns crying out of joy (because ofc they can't all cry at the same time), Ray somehow getting roped into catering his own fucking wedding…it all comes together in such a beautifully brilliant way that I can't really think of anything to be altered except Alex walking Emma down the aisle.

If Emma doesn't regain her memories, I'd still imagine something similar playing out with it being a lowkey event in someone's backyard, but there's less chance of Ray prioritizing getting NE together separate from him (for a while) because in his mind they're forever classified as a matching set that he's not a part of

(2020 Exhibition Interview)

And more of a chance of them officially getting together as a trio to start off due to both the search for Emma leading Norman and Ray to grow closer in her absence (while holding off on progressing further in a relationship until reunited with their third) and then all three of them navigating her memory loss.

[it-happened-one-fic]

Play the Fool - Dottore (Part 3)

Author's Notes: I've finally figured out how many fics it's going to take for me to finish this unplanned series. Just like the previous parts, I listened to "Black Sea" by Natasha Blume while writing this. Reader is gender-neutral. I hope you enjoy!

Type: Mer-Dottore/ Merman AU/ gender-neutral reader/ I'm not gonna label this as fluff since that doesn't feel quite right, but know that it's NOT angst, yandere, or anything like that

Word Count: 1468

Trigger Warning: Discussion of past crimes including murder (Dottore), Fatui are generally shady

{Part One} {Part Two} {Part Three: You're Here!} {Part Four} {Part Five}

EDIT: Entire series now available on AO3! (link deleted due to glitches)

My cover job of cleaning Dottore’s tank was slippery work, but I’d managed to get some of the Fatui employees to bring over yet another, curiously identical wheeled tank for me to dump the green gunk that the harbinger had concocted into.

I clambered out of the newly cleaned tank, glancing around and noting that there was no one left in the room save for myself. Which was exactly what I needed, but was also very suspicious.

I couldn’t help but feel that this was all going a little bit too smoothly. But I also didn’t really have a choice but to accept it, at least for now. So I went ahead and flipped a heavy black tarp over the tank’s open lid to help with both the scent and the  generally revolting appearance of the green algae.

If I were lucky or if someone really was behind the scenes, then the rest of the headquarters would be equally barren while I wheeled Dottore out under the guise of the trash that I now pushed in front of me.

I stopped next to Dottore’s tank, tapping it lightly to let him know it was just me before I reached over to shift the tarp. In response a webbed hand appeared on the glass. Dottore himself remained lying sluggishly on the bottom of the tank. The twitching of his blue fins was the only sign of life.

I frowned at the sight of him, pausing in my motions to look worriedly into the tank. He barely moved, but somehow I could feel his gaze shift to me. He made no motions to communicate or rush me. Instead he only pulled his hand back into a more relaxed position and remained laying, the gills in his side fluttering tiredly.

He reminded me of some of the less-than-healthy fish I’d seen in pet stores before when I’d looked into possible ways to care for him when I’d first been given my job. Then, I’d been more fascinated by him, though I’d still maintained a careful distance that made my current actions laughable.

But I’d always been less afraid of him than the scientists and I’d always viewed him as more than just a fish, unlike some of the other Fatui that came and went.

After all, no mere fish could incur quite so much horror in people nor could it kill quite so easily. There was always a cleverness to the merman that was decidedly human in the most malevolent way possible.

I was torn between offering words of reassurance and staying silent. A cold part of me argued that he was a horrible man who’d killed numerous scientists solely in the name of revenge and seemed to take a certain degree of delight in it. While they had betrayed him, two wrongs didn’t make a right, and who knew what all horrors this man had committed in his past scientific tests.

 The other, more sympathetic part of me argued that he was a captive, treated little better than a discarded pet or scientific oddity that was known to be dangerous but also viewed as less than human.

I pursed my lips, my hand remaining on the glass, and the words slipped from my mouth as the more sympathetic side of me won over, “ I know you’re uncomfortable, but hang on just a little bit longer. We’ll be out of here and back at my home soon, and then I’ll at least be able to get the lid off this thing. Maybe then you can recover from whatever that gunk you created has done to you.”

He shifted, almost like he was trying to roll over to better look at me when I spoke. But I didn’t linger to watch his reaction. He needed action more than kind words right now. So instead of continuing to comfort him awkwardly, I stood and hurriedly shifted the tarp over to where he was before moving the algae filled tank off to the side.

Now, at a mere glance, people would hopefully assume it was just his tank and not go near it for fear of his past behavior.

I grasped the handles that stuck off Dottore’s tank and inhaled deeply before taking off down the hallway. Moving at a brisk pace that made it look like I was busy, but not like I was rushing. I couldn’t afford to get stopped by any suspicious Fatui now. 

Something told me pushing a tank holding the former second of the harbingers would be frowned upon and lead to a not so pleasant end for me.

The halls were worryingly but also blessedly empty, making me frown even as I continued on the path of our escape. I was certain now, there was someone else involved in this little escape plan. 

By playing the fool with both Dottore and Pantalone I was no doubt playing exactly into someone’s hands. But I was far enough down this path that I certainly wasn’t going back.

Clever, Dottore had called me. More like stubborn.

And, unsurprisingly at this point, our escape was a success. No one even tried to stop me as I left the Fatui base and turned down the path that went to home. In fact, one of the final guards we’d passed, Makism I believed his name was, had even waved.

I hadn’t paused until I had reached my home which was provided and paid for by Fatui higher-ups and thereby incredibly, but uncomfortably close to their headquarters. Because if nothing else, the Fatui paid their employees well. Even if said employee just took care of the mysterious and revenge-driven merman who served as both a terror, curiosity, and maybe even a warning.

 It was almost distressing to be bringing this man, who could kill me the very second I opened his tank’s lid, into my home. But I did so. Grimly opening my door and pushing the tank into the building and then directly over to the secondary bathroom that I never used.

I yanked the tarp off, letting it flop down to the cold floor in a most condemning fashion as I looked at the locks on the tank’s lid. It was not the first time I’d realized exactly how risky of a plan this entire ordeal was and on what uneven ground me and Dottore were on.

He was far more dangerous than I and, if he so wished, he could easily get rid of me. I was relying on the idea that I was necessary to his survival, but how true that was I didn’t know.

After all, if he did kill me then Fatui would no doubt take one look at the fact that he’d gone missing on the very same day that would coincide with my death and draw one, not entirely wrong conclusion. 

That I’d stolen their merman.

After that it wouldn't be hard to manipulate those scientists, ever eager for some new, grandiose finding, that I’d stolen from him because he knew something. Dottore would ensure that they kept him alive for that much longer by simply killing me. An act that I knew he would have little to no difficulty with.

My hand rested on the first lock as I stared blankly down at the metal. A single shift of my wrist and the lid would open and I would be risking it all by doing exactly what had landed me in this mess in the first place.

But, despite all the risks, the locks clicked open and I pushed the lid off, letting it fall to the floor with thud as I looked down into the water.

Dottore’s tail slid along the bottom of the tank from where he looked up at me like he was ready to spring out at any moment. He still looked weak, but I had no doubt that he could do far more damage than he let on.

And that was exactly why I was surprised when he uncurled and stretched his way up to the top of the tank.

I stepped backwards, my eyes never leaving him as he easily cut through the water’s surface, his fins wrapping around him and before fanning back out as his long, webbed fingers curled over the glass edges of the tank.

“Clever and efficient,” The words slipped from his lips and I found myself going still. I wasn’t, as of yet, used to him talking yet and his sonorous voice still caught me off-guard. Calling to mind old folk stories of merpeople using only their voices to tempt their prey closer and thereby foolishly condemn themselves to a watery death.

“It seems I was right to choose you,” A smile spread across his face and I felt myself, foolishly and despite everything, relax.